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Thea Harman
Thea Sophia Harman is the main protagonist of Spellbinder and the soulmate of Eric Ross. Along with her cousin Blaise, Thea is a witch and member of the Harman Family. Early Life Thea is the only child born to Sophia Harman and Daniel Avery about seventeen years prior to the series. However, when she was still young, Thea and her cousin Blaise lost both their mothers and eventually their fathers as well. Because of this, they often grew up living with different relatives, mainly due to the antics of Blaise. As stated by Thea herself, she and Blaise have been expelled from five or six different high schools since they were sophomores. This is mainly due to Blaise fooling around with the human boys and Thea taking the blame with her cousin. At their last school in New Hampshire, Blaise got a boy named Randy Marik to burn down the school gym for her, leading to her and Thea's expulsion. They were then sent to live Grandma Harman, their maternal grandmother. ''Secret Vampire Thea and Blaise play a minor role in this book. After tricking Poppy North into leaving her soulmate, Ash Redfern brings her to Las Vegas and introduces Poppy to Thea and Blaise. Noticing that she hasn't fed, Thea acts as a blood donor for Poppy and scolds Ash for letting her go hungry. Later when James Rasmussen arrives looking for Poppy, Thea tells him that she left with Ash and that they were probably heading for the Summer Solstice party at Thierry Descouedres' mansion. Spellbinder Thea has just begun attending her new school, Lake Mead High. She is determined not to get expelled this time, as she doesn't want to disappoint Grandma Harman - or be sent to the Convent for misbehaving. Things go awry right from the moment she arrives at school however. Thea discovers the students panicking over a rattlesnake in the parking lot. Thea, telepathically connecting with the snake, tries to convince it to leave to avoid getting the snake or any students harmed. However, her concentration is broken by the students throwing stones. A boy named Eric Ross lunges for the snake and is bitten by it. Thea helps him carry it to the bush and subtly uses magic to heal the bite, though she tries to pass it off as the snake having missed its mark. Thea feels a strong connection to Eric, but tries to brush her feelings away. Thea befriends another witch named Dani Abforth and grows increasingly close to Eric. She eventually deduces that Eric is her soulmate, but this gives her nothing but grief, due to Eric being human and therefore forbidden to her. Thea confides her troubles in Blaise, but is horrified when Blaise decides to 'solve' the issue by getting rid of Eric, plotting to use magic to get him to fall in love with her instead, in spite of Thea's protests. Determined to stop Blaise and protect Eric, Thea decides to use a forbidden spell to summon the ghost of a witch to act as Eric's guardian. Unfortunately, Blaise interrupts the ritual and during an altercation, accidentally knocks the amulet of Suzanne Blanchet into the magical fire, unleashing her spirit. After nothing happens, Thea assumes the spell didn't work. However, she learns this is not the case when Kevin Imamura - a boy Blaise was toying with - is found strangled. After researching Suzanne's tragic past, Thea realises she and only she can send Suzanne's spirit back in order to prevent more people from dying. She also tries to put a spell on Eric to get him to fall in love with another girl, but it fails. Eric has also guessed by this point that Thea is no ordinary girl and confronts her, and she ends up confessing everything to him. Thea plans, with Eric's help, to lure Suzanne's spirit to a natural stone circle in the desert and send her back to the afterlife. She intends to carry out the plan on the night of the Samhain celebrations. Eric waits for her at the circle, whilst she attends the party. Unfortunately, Thea, Blaise and Dani are summoned by the Inner Circle and accused of performing forbidden spells. Thea, realising Eric and the human students at the high school Halloween dance are in danger, flees the house and drives to the circle, getting there just as Suzanne is about to kill Eric. With Eric's help, Thea prepares the ritual and sets it in motion. Suzanne's spirit is strong and tries to attack Thea, but she calls upon her "power as a daughter of Hellewise" - allegedly something no witch has done before - and finally gains the strength to send Suzanne back beyond the veil. Afterwards, it is revealed that the Inner Circle witnessed it all. Thea and Eric are brought back to Grandma Harman's house, where they debate what should be done with them. Thea suggests she and Eric drink from the Cup of Lethe - if Thea forgets she's a witch, then she will allowed to live as a lost witch with Eric and Night World law will be satisfied. The Inner Circle agrees and brings the Cup - however, it is revealed that Blaise secretly switched the potion with ice tea, allowing Thea to keep her powers. After escorting Thea and her soulmate outside, Blaise and Aradia Crowley - who is in on it - bid them farewell. Thea has an emotional goodbye with Blaise and Aradia suggests she and Eric seek out Circle Daybreak, where they might be accepted. Thea and Eric then set off for his mother's house. Soulmate Along with the other soulmate couples up to that point, Thea makes a cameo appearance with Eric. She is seen in Thierry Descouedres' mansion, introducing Hannah Snow to herself and the rest of Circle Daybreak, as well as explaining their purpose and getting Hannah up to speed about recent events. Physical Appearance Thea is described as an attractive, slim girl with "yellow" blonde hair and "soft brown eyes". She is said to strongly resemble Hellewise in both appearance and demeanor, just as her cousin Blaise resembles Hellewise's sister, Maya. Personality Thea is depicted as calm, kind and tender, with a penchant for loving animals and possessing quite a mature disposition for her age. Although she is disdainful of humans, having been raised in the Night World creed, she holds respect for all life, in accordance with the Wiccan Rede, and is shown to be adverse to deliberately harming humans. She eventually comes to be more accepting of them after falling in love with Eric. Thea is glad of her heritage as a daughter of Hellewise, and appears to have a skill in creating herbal charms and healing with stones. However, despite her joy with being a witch, she finds herself "ashamed" of being one when confronted with the actions of her cousin, Blaise; she is against the elder girl's schemes in playing with humans, yet out of loyalty and love for her cousin, whom she thinks of as a sister, Thea always shares the blame for the results of Blaise's dangerous love games. She also seems to feel a bit of pressure on her as the "last generation of Hearth-Women", worried about not living up to her family name or disappointing her elders, and comes to feel torn between her sense of duty and her personal happiness. Thea will go out of her way to help others, even if she doesn't know them well, acting as a blood donor for Poppy shortly after meeting her and also using magic to heal Eric's snakebite. Since joining Circle Daybreak, she seems to have taken on a leadership role of sorts, acting as a spokesperson for the other soulmate couples. Poppy also described her as having a "quiet authority". Powers Basic Powers * Spell Casting: Thea had the power to cast Spells. * Potion making: She also can make magical potions. Individual Powers * Zookinesis: Thea used this power to speak and understand the animals. * Animal telepathy: Thea used this power to read the mind of the animals. * Healing: She used this power to heal Eric Ross. Trivia *Thea appears to be partially based on the character of Diana Meade from ''The Secret Circle, another novel series by L. J. Smith. Both girls are similar in demeanor and, most notably, have a cousin who are the complete opposite to them. Like Diana, Thea is said to be the "day" to Blaise's "night". **Unlike Diana and her cousin Faye, Thea and Blaise have a much more positive relationship and even consider each other sisters. *Among the witches shown in the series, Thea is the first to call on her ancestress, Hellewise, when in need, something that the Inner Circle claims has never been done before. *In keeping with her witch heritage, Thea is named after a deity, particularly the Greek Titaness Thea (Theia), an ancient goddess associated with light and brightness. The name Thea itself means "goddess" or "holy". Thea's middle name, Sophia, means "Wisdom" in Greek. *Interestingly, the ultimate fan guide states that Thea was not a Harman, but a member of the Avery clan through her mother (though Thea was later adopted into the Harman family). However, the family tree (as well as the book Spellbinder) ''contradicts this information, as her mother's surname is given as Harman on the tree. It is not known which of these pieces of information takes precedence over the other, and indeed both the fanguide and family tree have some flaws in information. *It is interesting that the goddess Thea prays to most, Eileithyia, is the minor Greek goddess of childbirth and midwifery. In a way, Thea might be praying to her as a goddess that protects the creation of life (which would fit with the witch species general reverence for life). In a tragic irony, Thea's mother died in childbirth. **Fittingly, on the Redfern and Harman Family Tree, one of Thea's ancestors was a witch named "Eileithyia Hearth-Woman". *Going by the events of ''Spellbinder, which take place during October, it can be assumed that Thea was born sometime in May, as she states that she turns eighteen in six months. *Thea can be compared to Sarah Bailey, the main protagonist of the teen horror film The Craft ''which also features witchcraft. Sarah and Thea are both stated to have been born witches (although Sarah doesn't learn of her powers until she is in her teens), both have blonde hair, both their mothers died in childbirth, they are the 'new girl' at their school at the beginning of the story and they are both able to overcome adversity by drawing on their innate magical abilities. They also both have a love-hate relationship with a dark-haired witch who is the complete opposite of them and uses her power to fool with human boys (though Blaise and Thea have a much more benevolent relationship, whilst in ''The Craft, Sarah's rival Nancy eventually attempts to murder her). Interestingly, The Craft was released in 1996, the same year Spellbinder was first published. Appearances *''Secret Vampire'' *''Spellbinder'' *''Soulmate'' *''Strange Fate'' References See Also Category:Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Females Category:Witches Category:Harman Family Category:Circle Daybreak